MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 3 (My 6th Great-grandparents)

 

My oldest granddaughter recently started attending Notre Dame University of Maryland in Baltimore. Most of our family research has centered around Missouri and parts south, but just before my sister Sula passed she found the proof of the missing link in the Richard family. That of Edward Richards (1678-1755). He came from England and lived in Baltimore for a time.

John Richards

Mary Kidder                       Edward Richards              

William Head                                                                      Benjamin Richards

Ann Bigger                          Mary Head

 

Charles Merryman Sr

Mary Haile                          Charles Merryman Jr     

Thomas Long                                                                     Ann Merryman

Jane Peake                                         Jane Long           

               

6^th Great-grandparents

Benjamin Richards

BIRTH: 1710, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA

DEATH: unknown, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

BURIAL: Richards Cemetery, Callaway, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

MARYLAND ROOTS

• Benjamin was the first-born son of Edward Richards [1678] and Mary Head [1690]. His birth was recorded in St. Paul's Parish of Baltimore County MD. Benjamin first lived in the Dorchester County area on the east side of Chesapeake Bay.
• In 1729 Benjamin's father, Edward, sold property he owned in Dorchester County and prepared to move his family. They settled, perhaps late in 1729, and associated with the Gunpowder Meeting of Quakers north of Baltimore [in present-day Cockeysville]. In 1730 Benjamin had a tract named "Spring Garden" surveyed for future purchase according to Maryland Land records. This was probably the year he married Ann.

MARRIAGE

• Benjamin married Ann Merryman [1711], the daughter of Charles Merryman Jr. [1680-1722] and Jane Long [1675-1739],
• though the exact date is unknown to me. They had the following children:

1. Edward [25 June 1731] MD

2. Ruth [27 April 1733] MD

3. Charles [23 Feb 1747] MD

4. unknown daughter

5. unknown daughter

• In January of 1737, Benjamin purchased the 50 acre tract "Spring Garden" [see record at upper left].
• From a document describing the Hampstead Historical District for the Maryland Historical Trust:
• "The first land to be owned by a white man in the present Hampstead District was surveyed on January 5, 1737 for Benjamin Richards and patented to him on February 7, 1738 for 50 acres."
• Then, by 1739, both Benjamin and father Edward moved onto their properties "Spring Garden" and "Rattlesnake Ridge" that would grow into, first, a wagon stop named Spring Garden, and then the town of Hampstead MD, in what is present Carroll County. They, along with Isaac Wright, founded a Quaker Meeting there.

MOVE TO VIRGINIA

• Benjamin sold "Spring Garden" to William Stiles in April of 1750 in preparation for moving his family. The Edward Richards Bible records: "April the 27 1750 Benjamin Richards took his journey with all his family to go to Stanton River in Virginia with his wife and two sons and three daughters. And Dickey boys."
• Benjamin and his son Edward Richards [1731] appear on the 1750 tax records of old Lunenburg County Virginia.
• Benjamin [47 yrs. old] and son Edward [27 yrs. old] appear on the Settler's map of Franklin County. Benjamin was designated as living "below 5 mile mountain". The location is approximately 12 miles due west of Rocky Mount VA [about 3 miles south west of Callaway VA]. Edward's property was about 6 miles south of Rocky Mount.

TAX ROLLS

• 1799 and 1800 Tax rolls of Franklin County VA still have Benjamin Richards listed, along with son Edward 69 yrs. old, grandsons Shadrack 40 yrs. old and Waitman 35 yrs. old. Benjamin would have been 90 years old.

RICHARDS CEMETERY

• There is a Richards cemetery that coincides with the "below 5 mile mountain" description of Benjamin's homestead [Google search locates it there], and though the stones are buried or lost [as told to me by a local resident]; I believe he and other family are buried there.
• Anyone viewing this memorial with further information on Benjamin or his descendants are invited to contact me. HGR---a grateful descendant.

LINEAGE:

• Edward Richards [1678] Manchester, Lancashire England/MD

 

Ann Merryman Richards

BIRTH: 1711, Maryland, USA

DEATH: unknown, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

BURIAL: Richards Cemetery, Callaway, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

• Ann was the daughter of Charles Merryman Jr [1680-1722] and Jane Long [1675-1739], who were married June 24 1702, Baltimore County, Maryland.
• She married Benjamin Richards [1710] MD, probably circa 1730 in old Baltimore County Maryland in the town of Hampstead.

Their children were:

1. Edward [1731] MD

2. Ruth [27 April 1733] MD

3. Charles [23 Feb 1747] MD

• [Ann's father-in-law, Edward Richards [1678-1755]; recorded in his Bible that there were other children born to Benjamin and Ann--though their names were not given.]

Ann's father's estate:

• Charles Merryman 17.187 A BA £86.15.7 Aug 3 1739
• Payments to: William Hall who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Benjamin Richards who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Joseph Cross who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Charles Merryman (son, his portion), Jemima Merryman (daughter, her portion), Ketdemie Merryman (daughter, her portion), accountant (1/3).
• Executrix: Jane Knight, wife of Benjamin Knight.
• Benjamin and Ann removed their family into Virginia in 1750, where Benjamin & son Edward appeared on the tax roll. By 1755 they had moved into newly forming Franklin County VA, where they settled to the end or their lives. Son Edward became a prominent plantation owner and livestock breeder just a few miles south east of Rocky Mount in Franklin County.

NOTE: [Burials in the "Richards" cemetery are speculative. The cemetery stones are lost to time, and only the location is known. Please contact me if you have information that would be helpful.]

LINEAGE:

• Charles Merryman Jr. [1680] Lancaster Co VA
• Charles Merryman Sr. [1655] Lancaster Co VA

Thank you Harold Richard for your work on this

Copyright Roy Richard

MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 2 (My 7th Great-grandparents)

 

MARYLAND CONNECTION

My oldest granddaughter recently started attending Notre Dame University of Maryland in Baltimore. Most of our family research has centered around Missouri and parts south, but just before my sister Sula passed she found the proof of the missing link in the Richard family. That of Edward Richards (1678-1755). He came from England and lived in Baltimore for a time.

John Richards

Mary Kidder                       Edward Richards              

William Head                                                                      Benjamin Richards

Ann Bigger                          Mary Head

 

Charles Merryman Sr

Mary Haile                          Charles Merryman Jr     

Thomas Long                                                                     Ann Merryman

Jane Peake                                         Jane Long           

 

7^th Great-grandparents

Edward Richards

BIRTH: 10 Apr 1678, Lancashire, England

DEATH: 22 Sep 1755 (aged 77), Hampstead, Carroll County, Maryland, USA

BURIAL: Richards Family Burial Ground, Carroll County, Maryland, USA

ENGLAND

• Edward's parents are not known to me. I found a Richard and Hester Richards of Manchester, Lancashire England whose names are noted in an English baptismal record with a son, Edward Richards, baptized in the year 1684. This family is a possible connection, but as yet unconfirmed.  (per Harold Richards)

EMIGRATION

• Edward is found first in the new world living in the Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland. I do not know the date of his arrival. His first-born son Benjamin was birthed in 1710 and recorded in St. Paul's Parish of Baltimore County MD. Edward and wife Mary Head, born in Calvert County MD must have been married prior to 1710.
• Edward was a carpenter by trade, and a Christian by faith and motivation.

LAND IN DORCHESTER

• Edward, on 2nd of August 1720, ordered the survey of 100 acres in Dorchester County Maryland, a tract named "Downs". It was patented on September 10th 1724.
• On the 5th of July of 1729 Edward sold his 100 acres, "Downs", in Dorchester Maryland [east of Chesapeake Bay] to Francis Sherwood who lived in Talbot County Maryland [just north of Dorchester]. Edward and Mary were no doubt living in Dorchester at the time, and were preparing to relocate.

QUAKER BOTTOM

• Edward Richards had 100 acres surveyed 28 August 1729 that he named "Spring Garden", and patented July 18 1730. The land lay in an unsettled area 25 miles north west of Baltimore.
• In 1729 Edward & family [all his children except the last had been born] removed about 120 miles north west to a place called "Quaker Bottom" [it lay in present-day Cockeysville] above the town of Baltimore. There, a group of Quaker Friends [a Christian sect] were already worshiping together and became the original Gunpowder Meeting.
• Edward & family must have stayed at the Gunpowder Meeting through 1738.
• "The congregation was given permission [by the overseeing committee] to form a monthly meeting in 1739."
• Quoted from Maryland Historical Trust.
• [this location less than 14 miles north of present-day Baltimore on I-83.]

NEW BEGINNINGS

• In 1737, his son Benjamin purchased 50 acre tract called "Spring Garden". Around 1739 Edward and first-born son Benjamin moved their families onto "Spring Garden" and "Rattlesnake Ridge" [Edward had it surveyed July 18, 1738], and formed a Quaker meeting there [8.3 miles north west of present-day town of Butler]. Those tracts grew from an uninhabited area into first a village used as a wagon stop named "Spring Garden", and then later Hampstead MD. It lies about 25 miles north west of Baltimore, and about 52 miles north west of Washington, D.C.
• [I'm indebted to Arthur C. Tracey, Hampstead MD historian and land tract researcher.]
• "The first settlers in the area [of Hampstead] were of English descent and derived the town's name from the Richards family in England. Edward Richards is generally regarded as the first white man to have settled the area on 50 acres known as 'Rattlesnake Ridge'. Settlers of Scottish and German descent soon followed.
• The earliest tracts of land patented in the region were 'Spring Garden' in 1730, 'Rattlesnake Ridge' in 1739, and 'Wee Bit' in 1739." [Joan Prall: "Hampstead: Its Heart and History"]

BURIAL GROUND RESURRECTED

• The following article appeared in the Baltimore Sun on April 16, 2004:
• "Several decades ago, the Richards family burying ground located on Rattlesnake Ridge was overgrown and practically inaccessible. Development of the area helped bring about the restoration of the cemetery that dates back to the 1750s and the final resting place of Edward Richards, whose family founded the town of Hampstead, and Henry Bussard, the founder of Mount Airy."
• In April 2004, the burial ground was rededicated in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Hampstead and several descendants of the Richards' family."

FAMILY

Edward and Mary had these children:

1. Benjamin [1710] +Ann Merryman

2. Matthew [1711] +Maria Corem Carmack

3. Ann [1717] +? Morgain

4. Sarah [1719] +? Phippen

5. Daniel [1719] +Catherine Carmack

6. Elizabeth [1721] +? Simons

7. Rachael Sue [1723] +? Sice

8. Patience [1724] +Thomas Story

9. Richard [1725] +Sarah Hooker

10. Lydia [1727] +William Winchester

11. Stephen [1728] +Mary Elizabeth Carmack

12. Mary [1732] +Christopher Vaughn

FOUNDERS

• Edward's children were instrumental in settling and beginning towns nearby. Richard founded the town of Manchester MD. Lydia married William Winchester, who founded Westminster MD. Mary wedded Christopher Vaughn, who was credited with laying out and platting the ground which became Hampstead [which Edward and son Benjamin first settled].

HIS BOOK, THE HOLY BIBLE

• Edward's personal Bible survives. It is kept in trust at the Carroll County Historical Society in Westminster MD. It was professionally photographed in 1978 at the direction of Descan Harley Richards [1900] OH/IN, who had the Bible at that time, for preservation. I have photo-copies of the pages of the Bible on which personal notes/records were written. The Bible was printed in 1670.
• In his Bible, Edward wrote this: "His book. I pray for grace therein to look, and in looking may increase that grace as never with me may cease."
• To that I can only say "Amen." HGR---a grateful descendant.

(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)

 

Mary Head Richards

BIRTH: 1 Feb 1690, Calvert County, Maryland, USA

DEATH: 20 Jan 1785 (aged 94), Hampstead, Carroll County, Maryland, USA

BURIAL: Richards Family Burial Ground, Carroll County, Maryland, USA

• Mary was born in Calvert County MD of parents unknown to me at this time. She married Edward Richards [1678-1755] of Manchester, Lancashire England before 1710. Edward had come to the new world and ported in Chesapeake Bay. Their first-born son, Benjamin; was born in Maryland in 1710.

Edward and Mary had these children:

1. Benjamin [1710] +Ann Merryman

2. Matthew [1711-27 Nov 1751] + Maria Corem Carmack

3. Ann [1717] +? Morgain

4. Sarah [1719] +? Phippen

5. Daniel [1719-31 Oct 1787] +Catherine Carmack

6. Elizabeth [1721] +? Simons

7. Rachael Sue [1723] +? Sice

8. Patience [1724] +Thomas Story

9. Richard [1725] +Sarah Hooker 14 July 1754

10. Lydia [1727] +William Winchester

11. Stephen [1728] +Mary Elizabeth Carmack

12. Mary [1732] +Richard Vaughn

• After living in Dorcester County until 1729, the family moved to join a forming Gunpowder Quaker Meeting about 15 miles north west of Baltimore. In 1739, Edward moved his family 13 miles further north west to land he had purchased. There they began a Quaker Meeting and settled for good.
• First-born son Benjamin took his family and moved to Virginia in 1750. Mary lost her son Matthew to an early death in 1751, then her husband Edward succumbed in 1755.
• Mary lived on thirty years after Edward had died. He had made provision for her in his will, and was no doubt looked after by her married sons and daughters who lived nearby.

(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)

 

Charles Merryman Jr.

BIRTH: 1680, Lancaster County, Virginia, USA

DEATH: 17 May 1722 (aged 41–42), Baltimore County, Maryland, USA

BURIAL: Old Saint Pauls Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA

• Charles was the husband of Jane (Long) Merryman 1675-1739
• He was ths son of Capt. Charles Merryman, Sr. and Mary (Haile) Merryman
• Will dated Dec 25, 1720. Estate probated June 23, 1722 Baltimore Co., Maryland

(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)

Jane Long Merryman

BIRTH:

DEATH:

BURIAL:

Copyright Roy Richard

MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 1 (My 8th Great-grandparents)

 

My oldest granddaughter recently started attending Notre Dame University of Maryland in Baltimore. Most of our family research has centered around Missouri and parts south, but just before my sister Sula passed she found the proof of the missing link in the Richard family. That of Edward Richards (1678-1755). He came from England and lived in Baltimore for a time.

John Richards

Mary Kidder                       Edward Richards              

William Head                                                                      Benjamin Richards

Ann Bigger                          Mary Head

 

Charles Merryman Sr

Mary Haile                          Charles Merryman Jr     

Thomas Long                                                                     Ann Merryman

Jane Peake                          Jane Long           

               

MARYLAND CONNECTION - 8^th Great-grandparents

John Richards

BORN: 1650, Manchester, Lancashire, England

DEATH:

BURIAL:

Mary Kidder Richards

BORN: 1650, Lancashire, England

DEATH:

BURIAL:

 

William Head II

BORN: 1660, Calvert, Maryland, USA

DEATH: 14 Jun 1718, Maryland, USA

BURIAL:

Ann Bigger Head

BORN: 1676, Calvert, Maryland, USA

DEATH: 1721, Prince George's, Maryland, USA

BURIAL:

 

Capt Charles Merryman Sr.

BIRTH: 1655, Lancaster County, Virginia, USA

DEATH: 22 Dec 1724 (aged 68–69), Baltimore County, Maryland, USA

BURIAL: Old Saint Pauls Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA

• Charles was the husband of Mary Haile Merryman 1659-1709
• Also husband of Mary Matson
• Daughter Elizabeth Merryman born abt 1702
• He was the son of John Merryman and Audrey Merryman
• He was Captain of the Militia in 1696 (Ref: Maryland archives, vol 30, page 544)
• Will of Charles Merryman
• 16 Jan 1724 Probated 14 Jan 1725
• Baltimore Co. MD
• SLC Family History Microfilm 0012847 Probate Records of MD Vol 17-18 1721-1726

(Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29969022/charles-merryman)

Mary Haile Merryman

BIRTH: 1652, York, Virginina

DEATH: 12-22-1709, Baltimore, Maryland

BURIAL:

 

Thomas Long

BORN: 1654, London, England

DEATH: Sept. 1691, Baltimore, Maryland

BURIAL:

 

Jane Peake Long

BIRTH:

DEATH:

BURIAL:

 

Copyright Roy Richard

PUNK (My Dad)

 

This is my favorite picture of my Dad. I am guessing it was made in the late 1920’s. Dad was a good man, full of humor; he provided for his family and helped others in need. It wasn’t until after his death that we heard rumors of his “sorted” past. While none of the items mentioned where horrible or devastating, it did reveal a part of him none of us ever knew.

He and his step-father did not get along and so when he was 13, he left home and “ran the roads”. During this time he lived with family and friends and sometimes just slept in someone’s barn. What we didn’t know was that his nickname was “Punk” and that he carried a short barrel 38 revolver. Sis and I would talk and wish we had a way to just check the local law enforcements records back then to see what things he got into. I have checked the Missouri Penitentiary records and know that luckily he never made it there! So maybe it was only mischief he got into? I’d like to believe that.

Some things about Dad that I knew and maybe lend some credit to achieving that nick name include:

• Stories of disassembling a farmer’s wagon and then reassembling them on top the barn.
• My Grandfather Edmonds an old coal miner and quite a drinker would often try to out drink Dad. But Dad never loss, he always was able to drink his father in-law under the table.
• He was an unbelievable pool player. I often saw him run the table giving his opponent no chance.
• He loved to gamble playing cards.
• Once at work a supervisor said something that riled him greatly and he pushed the man backwards towards a waste can. The supervisor sat into the can and then could not get out. For some reason Dad, as far as I know, was never disciplined for this.
• We would often go hunting for my “Uncle Bud” when he stayed out and Dad knew where all the good “Beer Gardens” where.
• He could/would never just outright buy a large item. Each purchase was an adventure into seeing what you could dicker for. Mom got free lamps with her living room set. We got free 8-tracks with our first stereo. I got free underwear and a new tie with a suit.
• He took me along with his drinking buddies one night to drive to Saginaw and get a gigantic roll of insulation. It was January and cold! He was in the passenger seat and I sat in the middle. In the back seat were two of his friends. All the way up there he kept the door cracked, allowing the wind to blow into the back seat. His friends complained of the cold and Dad kept telling them the heater must not be working.
• When I was about five he stayed out all night one Saturday. When he got home Mom forced him to get ready for church. All day he tried his best to get back home to go to bed, but he never made it. We went to morning services, had lunch, went shopping (ALL DAY), then attended evening services. Next morning mom had him up and ready for work. He never stayed out like that again.

When I was seven he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. While he was in the hospital recuperating, he stopped drinking, smoking, cussing and gambling. After coming home he became more active in church

Copyright Roy Richard.

EARL'S COUSINS

Growing up we visited and heard a lot about Dad’s cousins. I never thought too much about it till recently and then could not make heads or tails of the various people.

Culbertson, Dorris, Lane, Julius, Peck and more! Who are these people. How do they fit in and how are we related?

It became apparent that Earl must have spent a lot of time growing up around his mother’s ‘people’. Pheobe Ann was by birth a Rogers and with the exception of the Julius’ all these cousins follow the line of the Rogers.

Peck

By going back to Earl’s Great Grand Parents Pleasant Rogers (1801-1845) and Pheobe Hickman (1816–1900), we find in addition to Earl’s Grandfather George William Rogers they also had a daughter named Chancy Jane Rogers (1837-1888) who married William A Peck (1830–1890). Their son Pleasant B. Peck (1871-1952) had a son Elva B. Peck (1908-1983) who was Dad’s age and a ‘cousin’. Elva pastored the New Hope church from 1953 to 1956.

Elva’s children (Glenda Earfaye Peck, Evelyn Darlene Peck, Elva Lee Peck, Thelma Bell Peck, Charles Raymond Peck, Levonna Florene Peck, Brenda Berniece Peck) were more part of my memories. They are 3^rd cousins to me.

• Glenda married Richard Robbins and their youngest son Timmy and I played together.
• Elva Lee married into the Rainwaters, another name from the past.
• Thelma married Mack Williams. Their ministry greatly influenced the growing General Baptist Denomination.
• Charles Raymond was a Christian radio personality in the Flint area, in addition to being a great minister for the Lord
• Levonna  attended church with us while I was growing up.

Culbertson, Dorris, and Lane

You do not have to go as far back to tie these into the family, you only have to look as far as Earl’s mother’s siblings.

Culbertson

Pheobe’s sister Mary Ann (1869-?) married John A.B. Culbertson, their son John Henry (?-1963) had a son, Ottie William Culbertson (1941-?).

We always visited Ottie and his wife Maxine when in Missouri. They operated Nursing Homes in the Dexter Missouri area.

Dorris

Pheobe’s sister Cora (1882-1946) married Milton Dorris, their son Herman (1902-?) was Dad’s contemporary. Herman had two daughters Sue (married Robert Sampson) and Debbie (married William Murry).

We attended New Hope Church with Herman and his wife and often had Sunday Dinner at their house. In later years we switched to First General Baptist and attended there with their daughters.

Lane

Pheobe’s sister Amanda (1886-1943) married James D Warren. Their daughter Violetta (1920-?) married Robert Lane. 

Parts of the Lane family also attended New Hope Church.

Julius

To tie in the Julius name you only have to go so far as Earl’s dad. William Oliver’s sister Susan Jane (1875-1941) married Francis Julius, their children were the cousins Earl visited with and talked about.

The Julius clan did not migrate to Missouri and stayed in Illinois.

Roy Julius was a minor celebrity in that he got his picture in the Grit, a national newspaper published back in the day. It seems when he was a boy he caught a snapping turtle and carved his initials in its shell. Years and years later while fishing he caught a monster snapping turtle while fishing. While taking it off the hook he noticed his initials in the turtle’s shell. Same turtle all those years apart!

Copyright Roy Richard

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND

 

My sister Sula was an avid genealogist. She spent hours in the musty basements of courthouses looking for clues of our heritage. She sparked my interest in the fact finding and desire of answering the gene questions. But I must admit I do most of my searching online.

While filling the holes and gaps with new found knowledge is exciting, finding the “dirt” or “horse thieves” in the family takes the cake. Recently while working on my wife’s family line, imagine my surprise when my paternal fifth great grandparents names popped up! She also has the same paternal fifth grandparents! Which I think makes us sixth cousins?!?!

My Family Tree

1. Agnes White (1765-1817) (my 5^th Great Grandmother) married Zachariah Warren (1763-1817) (my 5^th Great Grandfather).
2. Sarah Ann (Sally) Warren (1783-1854) married Edmund Hendley Richards Sr (1783-1840)
3. Edward Nathaniel Richards (1804-1180) married Janie C Stewart (1798-1870)
4. Peter Warren Richards (1823-1917) married Elizabeth 'Eliza Lizzie' Warren (1828-1850)
5. Peterson Warren Richards (1850-1907) married Sarah Ann Wolfe (1854-1925)
6. William Oliver Richards (1872-1915) married Pheobe Ann Rogers (1878-1925)
7. Earl Richard (1907-1978) married Nan Marie Edmonds (1933-1978)
8. Roy

Her Family Tree

1. Agnes White (1765-1817) (her 5^th Great Grandmother) married Zachariah Warren (1763-1817) (her 5^th Great Grandfather).
2. Zephanian L. Warren (1792-1864) married Eleanor Reese Evans (1797-1840)
3. Lucy Jane Warren (@1840-?) married John Thomas Butts (1834-1914)
4. John W. Butts (1861-1937) married Barbara Ellen Sails (1861-1928)
5. Rosa E Butts ((1890-1969) married Hubert Leander Stogsdill (1879-1930)
6. Hubert Leo Stogsdill Sr (1910-1945) married Caroline May Gutch (1911-2002)
7. Hubert Leo Stogsdill Jr (1930-2014) married Gaylia Eulene Kenslow (1931-2015)
8. Kirstie

Copyright Roy Richard

The Warrens and the Duckworths

 

As you work on the Richard family history, one fact continues to pop up. As they travel across the United States, the Duckworth family traveled with them. Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan all find the Richard clan living in close proximity of the Duckworths.

Are we related? You would think that some budding romance between the two families must have occurred. But not until my Father’s generation did a blood relative of mine marry a Duckworth and even then they were not  Richard.

My Dad’s father passed when he was eight and when he was thirteen his mother married Edward Chadwell. The story changed depending on the telling, either his new step-dad threw him out or he left home. Whichever might be the case, the two did not get along and so Earl began to run the roads.

During that time he lived with his half-brother Homer Warren in Illinois for a time. But most often he talked about staying with ‘Aunt May’ Duckworth or his cousin, Uncle ‘Lawn’ (Alonzo) and Aunt Effie Warren.

Aunt May was the grandmother to my Dad’s best friend Walter Duckworth.

The Warrens are related to the Richard’s through my paternal grandmother’s sibling Texas Rogers (1872-1903). Texas married Matthew Warren (1871–1900). Many of their children played a part in Earl’s life, but the most significant one was Alonzo (Lonzo) Warren (1891-1981). He married Effie Elizabeth Harris (1893-1966). Their daughter Retha Leona Warren (1919-2004) went on to marry Walter (Wicker) Duckworth (1916-2010).

At last a tie to the Duckworths!

Our trips to Missouri always included visiting Aunt May. I don’t remember a lot about those trips but it seemed that Dad coming in was like him visiting his mother.

Uncle ‘Lawn’ and Aunt Effie moved to Flint and lived just down Augusta St from our home.

Wicker and Retha moved to Flint and lived two doors from us on Augusta for a number of years.

Copyright Roy Richard

Homer Warren

 

My dad, Earl Richard had a half-brother named Homer Warren from his mother’s first marriage.

Homer was born March 5, 1897 in Stoddard County, Missouri. He died on January 24, 1925 in Williamson County, Illinois.

Earl had gone to live with Homer, who was living in Herrin Illinois and working as a miner in the summer of 1924. Homer had also become a member of the Klan and was a bodyguard for one of their top guns, S. Glenn Young.

Earl shared two stories of his time in Illinois. The first he and Homer were riding in a wagon outside of town when some brush began to rustle just off the road. Homer without missing a beat or slowing the horses down, he pulled a pump shotgun from beside himself and emptied it into the brush.

The second story and the one that made Earl decide to go back to Missouri happened later in the fall of that year. He and Homer were living in a garage behind a house in town. One night when they came home they found that the garage was fully riddled with bullet holes.

Homer was killed in a shootout with the local Sheriff.

Homer is buried Herrin City Cemetery, Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois, USA. He was survived by his wife, Mary E Harris Warren. She later married Clarence Rippy and moved to Flint, Michigan. Homer was preceded in death by his son, Willie Hoffer Warren (1917-1919).

Williamson County where Homer met his death had a bloody history.

The Carterville Mine Riots of 1899

In 1889, Samuel T. Brush started up a mining operation north of Carterville, Illinois called the St. Louis and Big Muddy Coal Company. Brush decided to break the Union and brought in scab laborers. To make the matter worse these laborers were African American from outside the County. On September 17, 1899, a group of black miners from Brush’s mine left his mine property and went downtown to the train station. This was the opportunity that the union workers had been waiting for since they already had a wagon full of guns and ammunition prepared for the event.

Before the black miners could reach their destination they were confronted with the union workers and a gunfight ensued. In the end, several non-union workers were killed and several were wounded with no casualties on the union side. The union men responsible were rounded up, arrested, and jailed. After three days, all were released and no convictions were ever filed.

The Herrin Massacre

In 1922 William J. Lester began developing a mining operation called the Southern Illinois Coal Company. Lester had a plan, his mine would be a strip mine operation, unique for that time, and instead of making the mistake that Brush made by using black workers, he would use non-union white workers.

On June 21, 1922 the mine was attacked along with the convoy that ferried  the scab workers to and from the mine.

On the next morning, June 22, 1922, Sheriff Thaxton, headed for the mine. When he arrived, the mine was a virtual mob scene. Everything had either been burned or dynamited or was in the process of being destroyed or plundered.

The remaining 46 scab workers were marched through the woods to Coal Belt Electric Line’s power house where the attackers opened fire on them, killing or wounding 20 of them.

Twenty one people were killed in twenty four hours and three would die later from complications.

The KKK in Williamson County

Williamson County had become a fertile field for establishment and growth of the Ku Klux Klan. The area was predominantly fundamentalist Protestant and fervently patriotic, and these factors contributed to prejudices and intolerance. They also contributed to fanatical support of Prohibition laws.   Herrin had a ready-made scapegoat in its Italian miner community, as these people were “foreigners,” Catholic, and “habituated to wine”; many of them had become bootleggers after passage of the Volstead Act.

The local Sheriff George Galligan was not strictly enforcing Prohibition, and the Williamson County Law Enforcement League, organized to help stamp out bootlegging and gambling, had condemned him, publicly announcing that other means would have to be found to enforce the law. Many citizens believed that the Klan offered a way to clean up Williamson County and redeem it from its shame.

On January 24, 1925, Deputy Sheriff Ora Thomas confronted S. Glenn Young in the Canarg Cigar Store that was located in the European Hotel. The meeting of these two enemies ended in a gunfight that left Thomas, Young, Homer and another Klansman dead.

On January 27, the coroner’s inquest covering the Young-Thomas shootout, decided that Young and Thomas had killed each other and that the other two men were killed by parties unknown.

http://www.mihp.org/2013/05/bloody-williamsons-history-of-mine-massacres/

http://www.mihp.org/2013/09/the-ku-klux-klan-in-williamson-county-part-two/

http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Complete%20History%20of%20Southern%20Illinois%20Gang%20War.pdf

Copyright Roy Richard

Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill

Gail 1941

 

I have been blessed with another poet in my life; allow me to introduce you to Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill, my mother in-law. She was a great woman with a kind and loving heart. Always willing to help out and take care of business.

 

She was born in Lanton, Missouri in 1931. The only child of Eulis Kenslow and Minnie (Eldringhoff) Kenslow. Lanton wasn’t much more than a Post Office and a General Store. They farmed and raised cattle for a living. The local one room school was staffed by one of her aunts. She later graduated from West Plains High School, home of the Zizzers.

 

• Her childhood contained many adventures:
• Her parents divorced and her father ‘kidnapped’ her binging her to Michigan.
• They reconciled and remarried.
• She lived through the Great Depression
• Her family traveled to California where they sought work as Fruit Tramps, traveling from farm to farm in search of work.
• They lived for a time outside of Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri managing a motel for the workers that were building the camp.
• While at the camp she learned how to gamble (successfully) by throwing dice.
• Seen her father shot in the leg by a man admiring his pistol.
• Worked in the Brown Shoe Factory alongside Porter Waggoner.
• Graduated from Business School in Springfield Missouri
• Traveled by bus to Flint, Michigan to meet her fiancé Herb and get married.

Gail wrote poetry to honor a special event or person and to celebrate holidays. Her wit and wisdom is missed greatly.

She passed in 2015 and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Flint, Michigan.

Herb & Gail 1950             Herb, Gail & Kirstie 2012

Copyright Roy Richard

Katherine Carey – Place

“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” - George Eliot

I have poems written by my Great -great Aunt Katherine that need to be shared. I want to keep her memory alive and even though I never knew her I heard enough about her to know that she was a remarkable woman. So first let me introduce you to my Aunt Kate.

Katherine was my maternal grandmother’s aunt. She never had children and took a liking to my grandmother Grace. She was born to Benjamin Parker Carey and Jane (Scutt) Carey in February 1878 in Pennsylvania. Aunt Kate was prolific poet.

Her first husband, 37 years her senior, was William Emmett Kirby, a Union Civil War Veteran and successful businessman. The exact date of the marriage is not known but according to census records she was still living with her mother in 1900. He had one daughter from a previous marriage. He died on August 7, 1907 in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. His will left everything to his daughter.

She returned to live with her mother until June 30, 1915 when she remarried. Judson J Place. 22 years her senior became the love of her life. They were married in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

Much of their time was spent in Daytona Beach, Florida and I like to imagine the two of them led a Great Gatsby life style. Full of parties, friends and maybe even few scandals.

Sadly Judson passed away in 1932 at Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida and is buried there.

I haven’t much information about Aunt Kate after this other than she moved back to their home in Pennsylvania. She passed on April 21, 1934 and is buried at Valley View Memorial Park, 1162 Lakeland Drive, Scott Township, Jermyn, Pennsylvania 18433. (Block 800 / Section S / Lot 3 / Space 4)

Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934

Copyright Roy Richard